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Tornado
Return to Oz (1985) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) Dorothy Gale (1939) A Tornado, sometimes called a Twister or Cyclone, is a violently powerful rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and clouds of the sky and winds of the atmosphere. It is usually a very large, massive and dangerously strong funnel in shape that moves very fast in a circular motion across the ground. These types of storms are rather common in the main character's native American homeland and state known as Kansas. In L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in circa 1900 one of these terrifying whirlwinds was responsible for carrying the Kansas farmhouse away while Dorothy Gale, a little orphan girl and her little pet dog Toto, were aloft in it at the time the storm hit the prairie and farm they lived at. The strom picked up the house from it's foundation and swept it up into the clouds of the sky, and far, far away until the storm reached the magical Land of Oz where it accidentally dropped the house on the Wicked Witch of the East in the eastern qaudrant of Oz known as the Munchkin Country and killed her. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) The Kansas Tornado Goes To Oz: Only one cyclone appears in the story. It is never explained why it chose to pick up the Kansas farmhouse and carry it all the way to Oz--it just happens. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) Dorothy and Toto were picked up in their farmhouse by it without demolition after some fright and Toto fell out of the open trapdoor because the swaying of the house. But the pressure of the air kept him from falling and he was rescued by Dorothy who caught onto one of his small ears and pulled him back into the room. After that she went to sleep on her bed with him at her side. *'Since Toto was levitating in mid air, he was floating by the same type of power that was holding up the farmhouse. Both Toto and the house were subject to the same forces of gravitation that gave them identical motions. Dorothy herself, most likely floated around inside the farmhouse as if she was an Astronaut in outer-space floating with no gravity, becoming weightless. Although Baum does not specifically say that this happened to Dorothy, realistically speaking, it is very possible it did accure when the cyclone transports her, Toto and the house to Oz.' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) They landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, unintentionally killing her. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) 1939 Film Dorothy Gale (1939) It is most notably remembered from being in the classic film of 1939 by MGM. Failing to get home in time to get in the storm cellar, Dorothy rushed into her house and then her bedroom window blew out of its frame and hit her in the head, causing her to collapse onto her bed. In her dream, the house was then picked up by the tornado without demolition and carried to Oz. During the trip, she saw various strange figures flying past, including Miss Gulch, transforming into the Wicked Witch. The Wiz In the musical version it was a group of dancers dressed in black fabric waving around Dorothy's house. In the film production it appears on a street in New York City, and Dorothy gets caught in it when she runs after Toto who had escaped out an open door. Lost in Oz The same one that carried Dorothy to Oz has been bottled by Loreleidere and can be used as a weapon. Ultimately, Alexandra Wilder got ahold of it and used it on the witch, defeating her. InkHeart 2008 In the movie Inkheart, the Kansas Tornado from The Wizard of Oz, is brought out of the book when the chapter The Cyclone is read aloud. Syfy Tinman In Syfy's 2009 Tinman mini-series, D.G. is taken to Oz via twister. Oz the Great and Powerful Oscar Diggs, a carnival magician, escapes from an angry strongman in his balloon which then got caught in one. At its eye, he experiences a strange magical effect, and the balloon is then carried to Oz.